Car-coupling



Unrrnn STATES ATFNT reins.

S. LLOYD NIEGAND, F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIEZCATION forming part of Letters Patent 310297328, dated April 22, 1884:.

Application filed September 3, 1883.

To ail whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, S. LLOYD WIEGAND, acitizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Couplings; and I do hereby declare the following to be a sufficiently full, clear, and exact description thereof as to enable others skilled in the art to make and use the said invention.

This invention relates to that class ofcouplings wherein the cars of a railway may be brought together and secured to each other without exposing the train-hands to injury from crushing between the cars; and has for its objectvthe simplification and reduction of cost of such mechanism, so as to adapt it to the safe and convenient use of the class of persons usually employed as train-men, and also to enable it to be applied and used without alteration or change in the construction of the cars, and without dispensing with or preventing the use of the ordinary couplings, whereby cars of different construction and heights can be easily linked together.

To effect these ends the nature of this in vention consists of a pair of hooks having an open or expandedjaw adapted to interlock and embrace cach other, and to disengage themselves when not held lengthwise, and a pin,which, being placed between the hooks, holds them together by preventing either lateral or longitudinal motion between the hooks; also, in an arrangement of funnel-shaped guides to facilitate the introduction of the pin, and of springs whereby the hooks may be automatically engaged and disengaged when the pin is removed.

I will now proceed to particularly describe the mode of making and using the said invention, referring in so doing to the drawings annexed, in which Figure 1 shows a top view; Fig. 2, a side view; Figs. 8, 3, 3", 3, 3, and 3 views of the several parts as detached; and Figs. 4, 5, and 6 show modific itions thereof. v

The same letters of reference apply to the same parts in the several figures.

A represents hooks, having eyes B formed in (ModeL) passed, and by which it is held in such drawhead. E is aflaring jaw formed in one piece with each of the hooks A. The draw-heads I) and the pins 0 are drawn in dotted lines, so as not to obscure the form of the hooks, and the hooks are llIlGSllZLdGd in Figs. 1 and 4 in dif ferent directions, so as to readily distinguish one from the other. \Vhen the hooks A are engaged, there is a cylindric opening between, into which a pin, F, fits. The pin F is provided with a collar, F, and a ring-handle, F", and chain F, for the purpose of lifting it.

Springs G are attached to each of the hooks A, the free ends of which resting against the side of the opening in each draw-head places the hooks in the position shown in Fig. 4

when they are disengaged. In the form shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 there is a conical cup, H, formed in two ha'vves, one half, H, being formed as partof each of the hooks A, which serves to facilitate the introduction of the pin F into the opening between the hooks A. In the form shown in Fig. A this is omitted.

As shown in Fig. 5, the springs G are dispensed with, and the draw-heads D are not used; but instead thereof the hooks A are attached to elastic draw bolts or rods J, which by their elasticity serve to open or separate the hooks when the pin F is removed, and the hooks A drawn apart in the line of the motion of the cars. From the shape of the hooks A the parts marked A, touching and rcstin gin the convergingparts marked A raise the books A to horizontal position and to proper alignment, even though the hooks A fit so loosely in the draw-head as to droop. The form ofthe hooks A permits alimited vertical motion .between them without risk of disengaging them, and adapts the coupling to unite cars'of different height ofdrawheads, and from its mode of attachment preserves the flexibility incident to the ordinary link-and-pin coupling. By resting the collar F of the pin F on the rim of thefunnel orl1opperH,when the cars are forced together, the hooks A engage and the pin F falls into its place, leaving the cars coupled. To uncouple the cars the pin F is simply lifted out by the chain or ring.

Instead of the pin F, thehooks may be locked= 10o them, through each of which the usualpins, O, together by blocks K, hinged to or sliding in of railway freight-car draw-heads D may be I the hooks A, as shown in Fig. 6, which modification, although useful, involves greater cost than that in which the pin or key F slides vertically between the books A.

This coupling from its cheapness is particularly applicable to freight-cars, being readily applied or removed, and not requiring any alteration of the ordinary couplings, but leaving them intact--a feature of first importance where cars belonging to different roads are to be coupled in the same train, and where, as in the State of Connecticut, the use of freightcars without selfcouplers is prohibited by statute.

I am aware that car-couplings have been made wherein the draw-heads of similar form, each provided with a mortise and tenon fitted one within the other, and were secured together by a cylindric pin fitting in grooves formed in the contiguous sides ot'thetenons; also, that car-couplings have been made consisting of two similar rectangular hooks each formed on the end of a draw-bar on each car, and pressed toward each other by springs to effect auto.- matic engagement, in which position they were secured by a pin fitting in a groove cut inthe rear wall of each hook. The first of these is objectionable on account of necessitating near ly equal level of the draw-bars, and also the side strain in the mortises and tenons resulting from the pressure of the pin in the grooves, and the latter is objectionable because of necessitating the presence of an attendant at the coupling when the cars are to be drawn apart, and, by reason of depending 011 the pin to prevent lateral motion between the hooks, are liable to soon becomeloosc from wear; Neither of these do I claim; but,

Having described this invention and the mode of operating the same, what I claim is- 1. A car-coupling consisting of two interlocking hooks, A, of such form as to embrace combination with the pin or key F, so constructed and arranged as to rigidly retain the end of each hook in the convergenceof the opposite hook andjaw when the pin F is placed between the hooks A, substantially as shown, and for the purpose set forth.

2. A car-coupling consisting of two similar hooks, A, each having aflaring jaw, E, adapted to align each other, and provided with a tapering guide for supporting and guiding a central pin to a position for locking said hooks together, substantially as set forth.

3. A car-coupling consisting of two similar hooks, A, each having a flaringjaw, E, adapted to guide, bya lateral movement, the opposing hook into proper alignment in such manner as to permit the recurved or overlapping ends of the hooks A to pass each other in the act of coupling and uncoupling, with a bolt or pin, F, adapted to separate the overlapping ends of the hooks A in the direction of the line of traction of the coupling, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4:. In acar-coupling, the combination of two similar books having flaring jaws, and adapted to be flexibly connected to the ordinary draw-heads of railway-cars, and by their form align themselves, when forced together, with a pin or key adapted to secure them together, substantially as shown and described.

5. The combination of two similar. hooks having flaring jaws, and adapted by their form to align themselves, when forced together, and susceptible of unrestricted vertical motion in each other, with a pin or other interposed body for securing the same together, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination of two similar books, A, having flaring jaws E, adapted to engage and align themselves, when pressed together, and be locked by an interposed pin, F, with a spring, G, arranged to. disengage the same when retracted, and present the hooks in position for re-engagcment, substantially as set forth.

S. LLOYD WVIEGAND.

Vitnesses: I

LINN WHEELER, G. STROBEL SULLIVAN. 

